So that an optimum seat position may be set, vehicle seats for drivers and passengers are arranged on the vehicle floor in a longitudinally displaceable manner via a rail system. It is known that the object of a seat arrangement with seat position detection and a memory function is to store at least one position found to be favourable through a previous seat adjustment. Electrically or electronically operated memory devices which store a plurality of seat positions, so for different drivers, for example, and which allow setting by the push of a button are known in the art. In addition, mechanical memory devices have also been disclosed which only allow one seat position to be stored, so, for example, make it possible for a given driver to relocate the optimum seat position by simply moving the seat until a stored locking position is reached, without having to adjust the seat all over again.
German Patent Publication No. DE 43 33 892 A1 discloses a manually actuable mechanical memory device for storing two individually programmable seat positions, in particular, longitudinal seat positions, using slider-bearing slider rails running substantially in the adjustment direction and a stop element that may be brought into engagement with the slider and is movable transversely to the slider rail, which stop element is an integral part of a searcher programming unit. In this case, either the search programming unit or the slider rail is movably coupled to the seat frame, while the other part in each case is fixed relative to the vehicle floor. The stop member may be moved upon actuation of the unlocking device of the seat adjustment from a neutral position into a stop position, in which the stop member may come into contact with a stop surface acting on one side of a slider during adjustment of the seat position and adjusting action in the direction taken is thereby ended.
Longitudinal adjustment, however, may only ever be realized in the direction of the stop of the individual slider or, when there is a two-slider configuration, between said sliders.
Furthermore, memory functions with mechanical solutions are known from the field of easy-entry adjusters. These are vehicle seats which may be unlocked from their guide, so that it is easier for a passenger to reach the back seat. The only point of significance here is that the seat relocates the previously set position, wherein the displacement is always in a direction towards the memory unit.
The devices, such as those described in German Patent Publication No. DE 1020133203181 A1, for example, only ever allow the seat to be pushed completely forward in the direction of the front of the vehicle and then this displacement path to be precisely covered, in order to relocate the seat position that has been set.